Apple Drops ‘We Don’t Get PC Viruses’ Schtick

Apple's new MacBook Pro. Photo: Peter McCollough/Wired

Apple has made a small change to a Mac marketing webpage that is a big deal to people who care about computer security.

We’re talking about the “Why you’ll love a Mac” webpage. For the past couple of years, Apple has claimed that the Mac “doesn’t get PC viruses,” adding that “a Mac isn’t susceptible to the thousands of viruses plaguing Windows-based computers.”

That’s a tough one to argue with. After all, Windows software doesn’t work on the Mac operating system. But now, it’s a claim that Apple doesn’t seem comfortable making anymore.

As antivirus seller Sophos has pointed out, Apple recently changed the page to include a wimpier statement about Mac OS X security. “It’s built to be safe,” says Apple. “Built-in defenses in OS X keep you safe from unknowingly downloading malicious software on your Mac.”

A before and after look at Apple’s Mac security claims. Image: Sophos

After a long run of dodging the kind of widespread worms and viruses that have run rampant in Microsoft land, this past year has been a bit uncomfortable for Apple, security-wise. First, there was MacDefender, the Trojan horse program that reportedly lit up Apple’s tech support lines a year ago. It was followed by a nasty little piece of work called Flashback, which was used by criminals to generate fake search engine and then drive unsuspecting users to websites they didn’t really want to visit. Like MacDefender, Flashback started life as a Trojan, meaning Mac users had to first be tricked into downloading it. But in March, it started silently infecting users via a web attack, thanks to an unpatched Java flaw in Mac OS X.

Flashback may have been the final straw for Apple’s “doesn’t get PC viruses” claim, says Chester Wisniewski, a security adviser with Sophos. It may have been technically accurate that Macs don’t get gummed up with PC viruses, but the implication that Apple is virus-free is certainly misleading. “My hunch is maybe the lawyers were unconformable with the claims,” he says. Apple didn’t respond to a request for comment on its security claims.

One other problem: Even though they may not harm Mac OS X, Sophos believes that about 20 percent of Mac computers are actually infected with Windows malware, most likely copied via an infected USB drive or else installed in Macs that were set up to dual-boot Windows and Mac OS X.